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The Impending "Official" Launch of Sleuth
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Sleuth Admin
Tale Spinner
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Apr-15-2004 12:07
The time is approaching for an end to the Beta testing phase of Sleuth, and some kind of relaunch of the game. I plan on continuosly tweaking and adding to the game, but we've fixed most of the big bugs, and I think the game is pretty well balanced now.
I don't have a hard date for a launch, but I'm leaning towards early May. There are a few ways we can handle this, but I want to get input from some of you. I have two big questions:
1) Should we reset the character database and make everybody start from scratch, or not? There have been a lot of bugs and expoits that were open earlier in the game that no longer are. Also, I've recently made an adjustment to slow the rate at which high level characters acrue skill points. In the interest of fariness, it seems like we should reset the database, but please voice your opinions here.
2) How are we going to pay for better hosting? As you may have noticed, I've been periodically turning off new user registration, in an effort ot hold down traffic. I'm taking steps to move the game to a more professional hosting environment (it's already partially on a new server). This is going to be fairly expensive, so the game will need to bring in some money to pay for that. Any additional money would allow me to spend more time adding game content. I welcome any ideas for how to bring in revenue. Although the prefered method would obviously be to sell advertising space on Sleuth, I don't think that's realistic considering our traffic dynamics. That is, online advertising seems to work better for sites with a lot of unique daily visitors, each of whom only spends a few minutes on per session. Our traffic tends to be a smaller number of unique users who return often and play a lot each month.
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Replies |
JJohnson
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Apr-19-2004 16:41
I don't have a lot of experience, but I have worked my way to where I am. I don't think I would come back to play if my character was reset since gaining more skills and developing my current character is the reason I come back - I don't care if I have the least points on the board - as long as I am able to have fun continuing on with my detective
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jwonie2
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Apr-19-2004 16:42
nay for reset. i'm alright with additional mysteries, especially now the server can handle it, however, i don't know about what kind of exclusive content you mean.
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sirgarr
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Apr-19-2004 16:44
Nay!
And as one of the four people past 10,000, I'm fine if you tweak with my skills and experience to make it more equitable.
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Sleuth Admin
Tale Spinner
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Apr-20-2004 08:04
Come on folks. That's only 5 Yea or Nay votes. I'll leave the voting open until Wednesday morning, then I'll go with whichever is chosen.
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Montague Summers
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Apr-20-2004 08:22
Nay! I like my character, as others have stated before there will always be players behind, so I guess I would prefer keeping mine then. As sirgarr, I wouldn't mind if you had to modify my character a little.
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Fat Chuck
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Apr-20-2004 08:47
I also vote nay. (I guess my vote wasn't counted from before if only 5 is the tally?) But like Sirgarr and Montague, if you feel tweaks are necessary, I wouldn't mind.
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sirgarr
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Apr-20-2004 09:51
I'll vote nay too!
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sirgarr
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Apr-20-2004 09:51
Nay! Nay! :)
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Panthera
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Apr-20-2004 09:52
I vote Yea! I'd like to restart! (notice someone above voted twice!!)
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Sleuth Admin
Tale Spinner
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Apr-20-2004 10:10
Yes, I have my eye on that cheater Sirgarr.
Actually, I really like this voting thing. I'd like to add some kind of player goverment eventually. Say a city council, where everybody can vote for members. Those members than act as a steering committee for the game. Like they could decide the order of importance for upcoming patches, and maybe have some disciplinary authority over players who harrass others.
Anyway, I'm getting off topic.
Yeah or Nay! (except you sirgarr)
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